ChatGPT answers: "Which is better? Malaysia's Roti Canai, or Singapore's Roti Prata?"

So I read the newsfeed that said Roti Canai is ranked #1 while Prata is ranked #12. So I asked ChatGPT which is better. This was the answer generated:

The preference between Malaysia's Roti Canai and Singapore's Roti Prata is subjective and can vary from person to person. Both dishes are delicious and have their unique characteristics, but there are some differences between the two:

Roti Canai (Malaysia): Roti Canai is a popular Malaysian flatbread that is known for its flaky and crispy texture. It is made from a dough that typically includes flour, water, and ghee (clarified butter).
It is often served with a variety of curries, including chicken curry, dhal (lentil curry), or fish curry.
Roti Canai is usually thin and crispy on the outside while soft on the inside. It can be folded or layered before serving.

Roti Prata (Singapore): Roti Prata, also known as Roti Prata in Singapore, is similar to Roti Canai in many ways. It is made from a similar dough of flour, water, and ghee or oil.
It is typically thinner than Roti Canai and is often cooked with more oil or ghee on a flat griddle, resulting in a slightly different texture.
Roti Prata is often served with various accompaniments, such as curry, sugar, condensed milk, or even ice cream.

President of The Republic of Singapore (POTROS) Election 2023

And so we find ourselves with three candidates for POTROS. I know. We don't call our President, POTROS for short, like the US calls theirs POTUS (President of the United States). But we are the country that LOVES acronyms - CPF, HDB, PIE, BTO, CTE, COE, MOE, CMPD, CPIB, etc.

So why not POTROS?

But I digress. 

Presidential Candidates, and their respective campaigns in brief:

1) Tan Kin Lian - "Vote for him so he doesn't lose his deposit!"

2) Ng Kok Song - "Vote for him so we can have an Istana Wedding!"

3) Tharman Shanmugaratnam - "Vote for him so another Indian Minister can stay in a Govt bungalow... for free! (making him luckier than Vivian and Shanmugam!)"

Kopi-O Kok Song - a meme from social media associated (by netizens) with one of the candidates.

What makes Singaporeans happy (from 2010)

Jan 7, 2010

By Tambyah Siok Kuan & Tan Soo Jiuan, For The Straits Times

THE media gives some insight into what makes Singaporeans happy or upset.

Singaporeans are happy when the Government rolls out a family-friendly Budget. Singaporeans are annoyed by service staff who are not passionate about their work or cannot speak English well. Depending on the performance of their investments, Singaporeans may love or loathe coffee shop talk about the stock and property markets. 

COE hits $114k (in open Category -- 20th July 2022)!

COE - the world's best voluntary taxation system. 

[Taxes are usually mandatory. You cannot CHOOSE not to pay it. COE is VOLUNTARY. *I* don't pay COE, because I CHOOSE not to own a car.]

Vexation without representation - or why we should be allowed to vote in US elections.

When the US revolted against the British and fought for their independence, one of their rally calls was "No taxation, without representation". Briefly, as colonies of the British Empire, the colonists were required to pay taxes to the British, but they were not represented in the British Parliament.

The US colonists were upset that the British could make decisions and policies that affected the colonies, and that they had no say (no representation) to protect their interests. Hence the revolt.

My first conspiracy theory about GE 2020

So I woke up to this story:

GE2020: PM Lee accepts PAP candidate Ivan Lim’s withdrawal; says ‘thorough investigation’ not possible given nature of GE campaign

“I recognise that the controversy over my candidacy has eclipsed the core issues of what this election should be about — Singapore’s future and the difficult steps we have to take to recover from Covid-19,” Mr Lim wrote.
“The controversy has also caused intense pain and stress for my family. I cannot put my family through this,” he added. “I thank the party for giving me this opportunity to serve.”

In accepting Mr Lim’s withdrawal, Mr Lee [PM] said that the controversy over his candidature was unfortunate.
“Ideally, there would have been a fair and deliberate consideration of these allegations. Unfortunately, the nature of the campaign is such that we do not have time for a thorough investigation,” Mr Lee said in his reply to Mr Lim.
“The allegations spread like wildfire online, eclipsing the serious life and death issues we must grapple with,” Mr Lee, who is also the prime minister, added.

Three Gorges Dam - disaster awaiting?

The Three Gorges Dam is an engineering and construction marvel. Or at least a technological challenge. And a socially disruptive endeavour. With environmental and ecological impacts that were... ignored?

My personal superficial view of this feat of engineering and construction was that it is what a big country does. It is what a rising power chooses to do to showcase its capacity and ability.

It is what it is.



Then the last few days, my Youtube feed was getting quite a few videos about unceasing storms in China, leading to flooding, and the danger of the Three Gorges Dam giving way.

Save money. Spend time.

This situation has affected people severely. Loss of jobs, loss of income, less disposable income.

To help Singaporeans, the Govt has ordered bars, cinemas, nightclubs and karaokes to close. So people with less income won't be tempted to spend their scarce income frivolously. But these measures were not enough! People were still finding ways to spend money they don't have! 

So the govt is closed other "leisure" centres from 7 April - IKEA, Decathlon, Japan Home, Daiso...

Sigh.

And for those who have lost their jobs, who might feel lonely at home by themselves, the govt suggested companies allow people to work from home. So they can keep their laid off family members company and reduce loneliness and depression. 

But for some couples, after years of... "Togetherness" they can't relate to each other without their children. So the govt ordered home based learning so the family could spend time together during this trying times.

Save money. Spend time. With your family.

Conspiracy Theory on the Coronavirus

The coronavirus that causes Covid19 is quite selective. It is quite mild in children and young people, and most of those who died from it or complications from it, are older people.

The virus originated in China.

China's one-child policy has resulted in an ageing population. And this top-heavy population pyramid will mean that each working adult will have to support many elderly.

China's "social support" system will not be able to support an ageing China.

If only there were some way to... reduce the burden from an ageing population...

Can a Carrier Group Defend against China's "Carrier Killer"?

In my Oct 2016 post on Singapore's possible Aircraft Carrier Ambition, I suggested that China just needs to build up the numbers and performance of their "Carrier-killer" missile the DF21.

This video (not mine) explores how the US carrier group might defend against the DF21.

A "House" in Singapore?

I'm a fan of the TV series (ended), "House", which is about a genius doctor, Gregory House, who leads a team of diagnosticians to solve medical mysteries - basically patients who present with complicated, unusual, or non-responsive symptoms.

I am reminded of the show because of this news article by a doctor in private practice.

He diagnosed a rare illness, vasculitis in one of his patients.

Which is one of the rare diseases that House's team often come up with.

Thank you Malaysia

Singaporeans have had it too good.

Malaysia is here to remind us that we live in a world where silly things can happen.

Perhaps they are worried, we are not following the silly antics of Trump.

So they have a localised version just for us.

Hinterland

Recently (12 Nov, see news extract below), Dr Mahathir visited SG, and because he was here, being interviewed by the local media, he said nice things about us.

In particular, he mentioned Malaysia being Singapore's hinterland:

Malaysia and Singapore are like twins, but one is older and bigger than the other: Dr Mahathir
By FARIS MOKHTAR
12 NOVEMBER, 2018
SINGAPORE – On his first official visit to Singapore since becoming Malaysia’s Prime Minister again, Dr Mahathir Mohamad described the two countries as “twins”, although one is "older and bigger" than the other...
“Singapore has got no hinterland but must regard Malaysia as its hinterland. On the other hand, for a very long time, Malaysia had to depend on Singapore for its exports and imports because Singapore has developed into a great port that is comparable to any of the greatest in the world,” he said.

Interesting, I thought.

When Singapore merged with the Federation of Malaysia, we did speak in terms of lacking a hinterland, and needing a hinterland, and how Malaysia would be our hinterland.

Which got me wondering about the etymology of the word, "hinterland".

So I googled. And found:

late 19th century: from German, from hinter ‘behind’ + Land ‘land’.

Right!

"Hinterland" is from German and means "behind land".

Apropos. 

News from Malaysia - Lessons for Singapore

[This post was first written in June 2018. So it's a little dated. So, I've cleaned it up and here it is.]

GST 0%. Sales Tax coming back. And oh, brother can you spare a dime... or RM1trillion?

Riding on the euphoria from the GE, the new govt is asking Malaysians to donate to the Hope Fund.

Things going through my head...

1 - So instead of "Hope and Change", their slogan would be "Hope (you can spare some) change"?

2 - Revoke 6% GST, reintroduce Sales and Service Tax. And ask for donation. Give with the right, take with the left. Or give one drumstick, want a whole chicken in return.

3 - "A fool and is money are soon parted" - after many Singaporeans started pledging (at least on FB) to donate to the Hope fund.

Entrepreneurial ideas from the Trump-Kim Summit

From the comments on FB, there are some obvious marketing opportunities.

Kimmie Plushie
Some found the Supreme Leader cute in a chubby baby way. Cash in on this craze. Supreme Leader Kim Jung Un plushie. Incredibly huggable. Soft and chubby, just like the real thing!
No hard buttons or plastic. All plush construction. Safe for use and play by children.
With a prominent label at the back declaring "Made in China".
Just like the Real Thing.

Kimmie Plushie Accessories!
The Supremes!
Protect your Kimmie Doll with THE SUPREMES(tm) Personal Security Officer Team. Comes in Personal Security Team (6 dolls), Motorcade Detail (12 dolls), or Deluxe Team (20).
All Plush! All dressed in identical black suits! Your Kimmie Doll will feel so safe.

This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System!

This is what happens if North Korea launches an ICBM with 150 kt warhead centred on Shangri-La (and if they hit what they aim at):

150 kt warhead detonated at Shangri-La, 1.66 km above ground, maximising radius of 5 psi airburst overpressure.

Singapore, June 12 - Safe?

Singapore will be the safest place on June 12, when Kim meets Trump.

If Kim is here, he won't nuke SG. He'll die.
If Trump is here, he wouldn't be so stupid as to.... OH GAWD WE'RE GONNA DIE!

Mahathir, HSR, ECRL, China Loans and Investment, and renegotiation.

I really want to work on the post on how to solve the HDB 99-yr lease issue.

But I keep checking FaceBook and finding uninformed comments about SG, and Mahathir.

I guess I could IGNORE them. After all, stupid comments about untrue things does not change reality.

Right?

I mean, Brexit was a fluke, right?

And Trump only became POTUS because of the Russians involvement, right?

Or maybe stupidity can warp reality?

Anyway, here are some of the comments or questions that dragged me into this post.

Donald Trump's Nobel Peace Prize slips out of his grasp.

In early May 2018, or thereabouts, Donald Trump announced that he will meet with Kim Jung Un for peace talk (well about getting North Korea to "denuclearise" - whatever that means - in exchange for lifting trade and other sanctions and helping North Korea's economy grow). And the talks would be held in Singapore.

The venue had to be a neutral venue where neither side would have "home ground" advantage. Mongolia was the other candidate. Unfortunately, Singapore was picked. The "honour" of hosting a summit between POTUS and Supreme Leader was too much for Singapore to decline.